Four Harvard/Radcliffe Athletes Earn Medals at U23 Worlds

AMSTERDAM—Four current and former
Harvard/Radcliffe rowers earned bronze medals at the 2011 World
Rowing Under 23 Championships, which concluded Sunday on the
Bosbaan, while three others qualified for their respective A
finals.

Harvard lightweight rising sophomore Andrew Campbell,
representing the United States, placed third in the lightweight
men’s single, while former Radcliffe heavyweight Olivia
Coffey ’11 stroked the U.S. women’s eight to bronze.
Harvard heavyweights Andrew Holmes and Patrick Lapage and rest of
the Great Britain men’s eight also placed third.

In the men’s four, David Wakulich ’11 and Canada
placed fourth, missing a medal by 1.6 seconds, while senior Michael
DiSanto and the U.S. entry finished sixth. Lizzy Bates ’11
and her partner placed sixth for the United States in the
lightweight women’s double.

All three Harvard/Radcliffe medal-winning performances came on
the final day of racing. Campbell, who is coached by
Harvard lightweight assistant Linda Muri, was the first to
compete. He and his fellow medalists built a six-second lead on the
second half of the final field by the race’s midway point.
With a time of 6:57.00, he finished 8.7 seconds ahead of the
fourth-place Peruvian athlete and two seconds back of the silver
medalist from Greece. France’s Jeremie Azou won gold out of
an event field totaling 25 competitors.

Coffey and the defending-champion U.S. women’s eight led a
tightly packed field through 500 meters, but Canada and New Zealand
moved ahead in the second 500. The Canadians went on to win by 2.8
seconds, while the Americans finished in 06:07.37, 1.35 seconds
back of the Kiwis and 5.6 ahead of fourth-place Germany.

The British men’s eight was fourth throughout its final,
but eclipsed Germany in the final 500 meters to take bronze in
5:29.15. Lapage and Holmes finished 1.8 seconds before the Germans
and less than three seconds after runner-up Czech Republic. The
U.S. eight won gold in 5:24.31. It was the second straight summer
with a U23 bronze for Lapage and Holmes, who rowed in the British
four last year.

Former Harvard boatmates Wakulich and DiSanto faced each other
in the men’s coxless four final Saturday. Greece edged the
Canadians for the bronze medal, as Wakulich’s boat reached
the line in 5:56.99. The U.S. boat finished in 6:03.51, while
Germany took gold.

Bates and Sarah Keller gave the United States its best
lightweight women’s double finish ever last summer, taking
ninth. They improved by three spots this year, making the A final
and finishing sixth in 7:15.68.

After missing the semifinals by one spot with a fourth-place
finish in the repechage, the U.S. lightweight men’s quad,
coached by Muri, won the C final by more than three seconds in
5:58.35. Taylor and the Canadian lightweight men’s four
avoided the repechage with a third-place heat showing and went on
to place fourth in the B final in 6:08.67.